Stabilized textile finish



Patented Oct. 12, 1943 Harold W.

Riverside Sticgler, Stamford, and John M. need, Conm, assignors to American Cyanamld Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Maine No Drawing. Application March 7, 1942,

Serial N0. 433,788

8 Claims. ((1252-83) This invention relates to the finishing of textiles and more particularly to the, softening oftextiles such as threads and filaments, woven cloth and the like by the impregnation or coating thereof with stabilized unsulfonated or sulfonated glyceride oils and fats, waxes and mineral oils, and with mixtures containing any one or more of these softening agents. The invention includes the stabilized softenin agents themselves, their methods of preparation, and saiiifned textiles impregnated or coated there- In the finishing of textiles such as plain or dyed threads or fabrics composed of cotton, linen,

wool, silk and the like, it is customary to apply' a softening agent in the form of a solution or aqueous emulsion. The softening agents now most commonly employed for these purposes almost always contain greater or lesser amounts of unsulfonated or sulfonated glycerides of higher fatty acids or completely or partially emulsifiable waxes such as Japan wax, beeswax, carnauba wax, scale wax and the. like, and such' softening agents have frequently caused trouble by oxidation and rancidity. Such oxidation is particularly troublesome when it occurs after the softener has been applied to a dyed fabric, for it causes fading of the dyes.

An example of the alkali metal'bisuliite-formaldehyde addition compounds, and preferred from the standpoint of cost and availability, is sodium bisulflte-formaldehyde.

The addition compounds constituting stabilizers of the present invention may be prepared by reacting a metal bisulfite withformaldehyde.

Their preparation is exemplified by the prepara tion of sodium bisulflte-formaldehyde. 10 parts by weight of-sodium bisulflte are slowly added with stirring to 8, P rts by weight of 38% formaldehyde The mixture becomes .warm and may be cooled if too much heat is developed. The product is a'thick white paste containing about '10-72% 0f sodium bisuliite formaldehyde. The product so prepared maybe used either in paste or powder form, and in the latter case water is added to the material to be stabilized at least in amounts sufficient to dissolve the powder.

The amount of the. stabilizing compound to be added to the fat or wax will, in, general, be comprised within the limits of-about 1% to 6% by weight on the fat or wax, the latter being taken Our present invention is based on the discovery that the oxidation and rancidity of textile finishing and softening agents containing unsuifonated or sulfonated higher fatty acid glycerides or waxes of the type now in commercialuse can be avoided by the incorporation therein of small but effective amounts of a metal bisulflte-formaldehyde addition compound. We'have found that a stabilizer of this class is effective to pre- I vent auto-oxidation and rancidity in either'unsulfonated or sulfonated glyceride' oils' and fats and waxes even when these substances are exposed to the atmosphere in finely divided condition, as is the case when they have been applied as a finish to textiles.

While the fats and waxes for textile use may stabilized with the addition compound of metal bisulfite and formaldehyde better results may be had by employing those obtainable by reacting an alkali metal bisulflte with formaldethe alkali metals form textiles.

on the moisture-free basis. The amounts here given are not, however, to be construed as a limitation on the invention since the use of larger amounts for the purpose is contemplated and is within the scope of the invention.

The addition compound may be incorporated in the fat or wax when the latter is in the concentrated or manufactured state, or it may be admixed with emulsions or solutions of the materials such as are prepared for application to Although they may be incorporated in any suitable manner, a preferred method is to stir a small, quantity of the stabilizer in paste form with the fat or wax in fluid condition. In the case of the normally solid fats and waxes, these may be warmed slightly to'obtain a partially fluid condition before incorporating the stabilizer.-

'. '}Ihe fats and waxes which have been partially oricompletel protected or stabilized may be used ,iin admixture-with each other or with unstabilized oils, fats and waxes or with mineral oils and in the form of emulsions or solutions or they may be employed with other textile finishing or treating agents such as the soluble=starches, soluble gums,

bluings' and the like. I s

In the following examples, which arev intended as illustrative of the invention and not asli ta tion thereof. sodium bisulflte-formaldehvde was used to stabilize the-materials. Theparts are by weight calculated on the moistureafre'e weight of 1 the materials unless otherwise noted.

Example 1 Samples of cotton cloth were impregnated with a 5% emulsion oi sulfonated tallow. Other samples were impregnated with a 5% emulsion of sulionated tallow which had been intimately mixed with 5% of sodium bisulfite-formaldehyde. All the samples were dried.

One set oi these samples together with a blank (untreated cotton cloth) was steamed for 45 minute at pounds pressure. The other set was exposed for 26 hours to dryheat (109 C.) in circulating air. All the samples were analyzed in a spectrophotometer for reflectance at 4000 Angstrom units before and after the steam and heat tests. The percent discoloration was recorded as follows:

Steaming Dry heat test test Blank 4. 7 7. 5 Bulicnated tallow 8.9 19. 0 Bulfonated tallow plus 4% blsnlilte-iormaldehydc 6.0 8.7

- non-stabilized sulfonated tailow.

Bsncidity tests were conducted on samples of cloth impregnated respectively with the sulionated tallow and the sultonated tallow contain-- ing 4% sodium hisuliite-iormaldehyde. The samples were stored in sealed glass jars at 50 C. with the result that while the sulionated taliow alone became rancid in two weeks that containing the sodium hisulflte-iormaldehyde showed no raneidity at the and 01' a month. In this respect similar tests carried out with another type of sulionated tallow showed the sulionated tallow alone to become rancid after 217 hours whereas the one containing the sodium bisulfite-Iormaldehyde was not rancid alter 624 hours.

Samples of cotton cloth were sized respectively with the sultonated tallow containing and not containing sodium blsulflte-Iormaldehyde and stored exposed to the air for two week and then steamed at 15 pounds pressure. The bisulflte-iormaldehyde protected sample gave} better white than the control. Further samples of the cloth were then examined after storage for six months. The samples. sized with the stabillzed suiionated tallow were whiter than those containing the improtected sulfonated tallow. Portions of these samples were then subjected tothesteaming testandit wasiound thatthe blsulflte-iormaldehyde had retained its efl'ectiveness and save a better white than the non-stabilized sulronated tallow.,

Anyotthetallowsnowknownto thetextile trade as finishes, whether'of animal or vegetable origin, may be stabilized in accordance with the invention and therefore the term "sulfonated tallow" as used in the claims in intended to include such tallows. The term higher fatty acid clycerlde is used to define the glycol-ides oi saturated and unsaturated fatty acids of '8 or more carbon atoms such as are found in fats and oils 01' animal and vegetable origin.-

E'wample 2 Tests similar to those of Example 1 were con ducted on a fabric softener which consisted of japan wax and beeswax emulsified with sodium hydroxide, stearic acid and water. In these tests samples of unfinished bleached cotton cloth were impregnated in each case with 5% emulsions of the softener, one emulsion being used for the control and containing no stabilizer, whereas the saponifiped waxes of the other emulsions contained 2.5% and 5%, respectively, of sodium blsulflteformaldehyde. The samples were then dried and submitted to three types of severe ageing tests. These tests consisted in (1) subjecting samples to a hour steaming at 15 pounds pressure and a temperature of 250 F. (2) exposing. samples in a current of air for flve hours at a temperature of 250 F.; and (3) sealing cloth samplea in glass jars for 5 hours at a. temperature 0! 250 F.

These tests showed the control to be yellow whereas the samples containing the bisulflteformaldehyde were of improved color. The sample treated with the softener to which the higher percentage of the stabilizing agent had been added showed a clear bright white.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the stabilization c! the emulsiflable waxes, japan and beeswax, given in Example 2, but may be extended to other emulsifiable waxes, whether of animal, vegetable or of mineral origin, such as, scale wax, carnauba. wax. montan wax, ceresin wax, candelilla wax. Briefly, then, the metal bisulflteJol'maldehyde compounds, and more particularly the alkali metal bisulflte-formaldehyde compounds, may be employed to partially or completely protect or stabilize any of the emulsifiable waxes which tend to become discolored or rancid.

Example 3 Indigo dyed light blue denim cloth was finished in the usual manner by impregnation with aqueous dispersions containing 0.5 lb. per galion of the following sulfonated vegetable and animal oils and fats.

15% suli'onated tallow plus 25% unsulionated tallow Incompletely sulfonated castor oil Sulfonated mixture of equal parts of peanut oil,

coconut oil and white olein Mixture of equal parts of sulfonated peanut oil,

sulionated white olein, and mineral all additional samples 01 the cloth were impreg-' nated therewith, dried, and subjected to .the heating and oxidation tests. It was found that fading was almost completely absent.

This is a continuation-in-part of our copend- V ignglgaipplication, Serial No. 351,104, filed August What we claim is:

1. A textile finishing composition comprising I a member of the group consisting of higher fatty acid glycerides and sulfonated higher fatty acid glycerides together with stabilizing amounts of a metal bisulfite-formaldehyde addition compound.

2. A textile finishing composition comprising a sulfonated glyceride oil together with stabilizing amounts of a metal bisulfite-formaldehyde addition compound.

3. A textile finishing composition comprising ing incorporated therein stabilizing amounts of an alkali-metal bisulfite-formaldehyde addition compound.

6. Textile material impregnated with at least one of the textile finishes of the group consisting a member of the group consisting of higher fat- -ty acid glycerides and sulfonated higher fatty acid glycerides together with stabilizing amounts of an alkali metal bisulfite-formaldehyde addition compound.

4. A textile finishing composition comprising a sulfonated glyceride oil together with stabilizing amounts of an alkali metal bisulfite-formaldchyde addition compound.

5. Textile material impregnated with'at least one of the textile finishes of the group consisting of emulsifiable waxes and sulfonated fats having incorporated therein stabilizing amounts of sodium bisulfite-formaldehyde' addition compound.

'7. Textile material impregnated with a sulfonated tallow'having incorporated therein stabilizing amounts of sodium bisulfite-formaldehyde addition compound.

8. Textile material impregnated with wax having incorporated therein stabilizing amounts of sodium bisulfite-formaldehyde addition compound.

HAROLD W. STIEGLER. JOHN M. HOOD.

of emulsifiable waxes and sulfonated fats hav- 

